Hello and welcome.
Please allow yourself to find a seated posture,
Lying down or standing,
Whatever works for you here.
This practice is called Beyond Labels.
If you feel like it,
You can close your eyes or leave them open.
Sway your weight back and forth.
Find the center of your body.
Use your hands to help guide you into your body if you need to.
Put light pressure somewhere that helps you feel in touch with your physical form.
Take a deep breath and let it go.
Let's begin by settling into this present moment here.
You can feel the ground below you.
You can feel the temperature on your skin.
You can feel your body moving with your breath.
You could feel the changing,
Shifting sensations of sound,
Of light.
Everything changing moment to moment.
Letting go of an agenda for being here.
Letting go of any stress.
Letting go of wanting to feel a particular way.
Seeing if it's possible to be in a place of open-mindedness with curiosity and calm.
Not knowing what this practice will bring.
In the letting go,
You can start to notice where labels creep into your experience.
Are there parts of you that are formed around an identity and that are creating some kind of tension in this moment?
Such as being a mom who has to take care of children after this practice.
Or being an employee of a company and needing to return to work.
It could be being a friend.
Having an identity of being a friend.
And feeling that there's some friendship responsibility you have on your mind.
None of these are bad things.
But simply notice what is carrying in with you into this moment.
What kind of labels and identity roles are structuring your experience of this present moment.
Notice how they show up.
Notice if there's a limiting quality,
A darkening,
A closing in,
Sharpening,
Tightening.
And again,
These labels are not bad things.
They can also be tightening in an empowering sense.
They can be collecting your energy.
Structuring your energy.
So notice both sides or either side of this experience.
Where you're feeling formed and how you are formed by labels.
You might notice how you feel about such labels.
I am a daughter.
I am a son.
I am a woman.
I am queer.
I am Republican.
I am a doctor.
Notice what comes up for you around your own sets of labels.
And we're going to practice allowing the labels to fall away.
It doesn't mean rejecting them.
So please don't do this in a hurry.
Even if you do feel averse to some of these labels and want them to fall away.
Taking the moment to,
In a way,
Bow to each label.
Thank each label.
Acknowledge,
This is part of me.
And then let it go.
That could mean dropping it somatically in your body.
Letting it flow down into the earth.
Washing away that energy around your form that holds that label in place.
It could be an opening of your body.
A slight shift in your posture.
The way you're holding yourself.
It could be putting your hand on a place where that identity is held.
And letting the warmth from your hand radiate into the space to release the hold of that identity.
Go ahead and release as much as is ready to be released.
Just for this moment.
You'll take back up these roles and identities later on.
But for this moment,
Letting each one go.
One at a time.
And breathing,
Just in a normal way,
A normal pace.
Allowing the flow of oxygen,
The exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide.
To transfer out the old,
The bad,
The limiting.
Just the structure for spaciousness and freshness.
Start to notice who you are in this changing present moment.
Other than the labels and structures.
What qualities arise in you?
What feelings are present?
What images or words come to you?
About who you are beyond labels.
And more than making this an intellectual activity,
Just simply sit in it.
And be.
Be the one who is beyond labels.
Be in your very essence,
Your very existence in the here and now.
Be in this life that's full of mystery.
That labels can scaffold and support,
But no label can contain.
Breathe deeply into the openness of who you are.
As we close this practice,
I'll invite you to welcome back in labels.
If that's something that feels helpful to you.
Because labels are a part of our world.
They are the energy of structure and support.
Can be helpful to cultivate a wise relationship.
With labels and our own identity.
So go ahead and call each label back in now that you want to call back in.
Call it back into your body and notice what happens.
How it changes.
How it provides you structure and energy.
How it shapes your experience.
I am a daughter.
I am a friend.
I am a mother.
A father.
A teacher.
I am a nature lover.
I am a collector.
I am autistic.
Allowing whatever roles and identities you have to come with love and kindness back into your heart.
Settling here for as long as you want to.
I'm going to end the practice here.
Please follow me if you're interested in more neurodivergence affirming meditation.
Thank you and be well.
